Paradigm Shift | Project Management Magazine Winter 2021 by Australian Institute of Project Management

PARADIGM SHIFT THE AIPM DIGITAL MAGAZINE

INDUSTRY 4.0

WINTER 2021

THE HARD WORK IS DONE

celebrate your project success Submit your project or project managers in this year’s Project Management Achievement Awards

TO LEARN MORE, VISIT: AIPM.COM.AU/AWARDS

Submissions deadline: 4 August 2021 2

CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE CEO . . . . . . . . . 4 IN THE NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS THE DIGITAL AGE IS CHANGING THE WAY WE MANAGE PROJECTS: ARE YOU READY?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 NURTURING A CONTEMPORARY PROJECT TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 GAMIFICATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRAINING. . . . . . . . . . 16 HOW TO DEVELOP THE SKILLS NEEDED FOR NEW AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES. . . . . . . 20 PROJECT IN THE SPOTLIGHT JOINT HEALTH COMMAND GARRISON FACILITIES UPGRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 RESEARCH Cover image: Engineer works with a HoloLens. (Source: iStock)

Paradigm Shift is published quarterly. Calls for articles will be made approximately 45 days before publication. Please see the back page for more details on how you can feature in our next edition.

AI, ML AND BOTS: ARE AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES PREPARING PROJECT MANAGERS FOR THE FUTURE?. . . . 28 HOW MATURE ARE YOU IN NAVIGATING CONSTRUCTION 4.0? . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 FELLOWS FORUM THE TROVE MODERNISATION PROGRAM: REDESIGNING THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 CONNECT AIPM ONDEMAND. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 3

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO SID GOKANI

Since starting at the AIPM in May this year, it has been rewarding to work with the Board, Industry Leaders Group and Chapter Councils, as we look to the future of the organisation and supporting the project profession.

global economy and uncover the project management strategies that will lead to recovery.

In the coming months, an important and timely topic that we will be shining a light on through our various programs is the role of the project manager in shaping the future and the skills needed to ensure we have the capability to do so. This lies at the heart of our upcoming AIPM Conference, which has the theme of Together Towards Tomorrow. Our expert speakers, including Shane Fitzsimmons AFSM, the Commissioner of Resilience NSW, Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM, Australia’s Chief Scientist and His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia will look at the forces impacting the

For this edition of Paradigm Shift, our theme covers the future skills needed for the project professional, as we explore the topic of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). Our experts from organisations, such as GHD, Aurecon, RPS and Western Sydney University provide a snapshot of how Industry 4.0 is impacting the project profession through new advancements such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and Machine Learning (ML) and what you can do to ensure you are at the forefront of this change.

One of our biggest programs for the year, the 2021 Project Management Achievement Awards are now also open for submissions, which provides an opportunity for you and your organisation to be recognised for your outstanding achievements in program and project leadership.

Enjoy reading, Sid Gokani MAIPM MBA GAICD CEO Australian Institute of Project Management

IN THE NEWS FURTHER INSIGHTS ON THE PROJECT PROFESSION REVEALED In the 2020 AIPM/KPMG Project Delivery Performance in Australia report we provided an assessment of project delivery capability. Further research has now been undertaken by lead author Peter Sexton, with the survey pointing to several areas of improvement for project delivery in Government in the areas around managing project benefits and change. Read more here.

LATEST ADVOCACY WORK AT THE AIPM AIPM and several member representatives will attend a Roundtable discussion on 17 June 2021 on Competency Related Issues in Construction Projects, which will address how the NSW building and construction industry can align the gaps to deliver a level of assurance competency going forward. We are also continuing the conversation with the Queensland Government and The Hon Mick de Brenni MP to review the technical qualifications for the QBCC Project Management Licence.

AIPM WELCOMES BUDGET INITIATIVES The AIPM welcomes last month’s budget announcement that considers the importance of developing professional skills and jobs growth to meet the demands of infrastructure and construction spending to drive Australia out of the COVID-19 crisis. With significant new infrastructure spending announced in the May budget, AIPM endorses the provision of another 5,000 places in higher education short courses and initiatives to better match job seekers to jobs. Read our press release on the subject here.

SID GOKANI ANNOUNCED AS NEW CEO The Board of the AIPM has announced the appointed of Sid Gokani as its new Chief Executive Officer. Sid is a business leader with experience in shaping and leading memberbased organisations and enabling organisations to better understand, serve and engage customers. He has a passion for and core strength in the leadership of change, and a successful track record in delivering transformation programs and building project delivery practices for global brands across multiple markets. 5

INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS

THE DIGITAL AGE IS CHANGING THE WAY WE MANAGE PROJECTS: ARE YOU READY?

FEW OF US NOW DOUBT THAT THE DIGITAL AGE IS UPON US. AI, BIG DATA, MACHINE LEARNING – WE ARE IN THE THICK OF THE DIGITAL MEGATREND, REFERRED TO AS THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

The low cost of computing and cloud storage, increased connectivity and the ubiquity of internet and mobile devices, combined with new business models, has led to rapid change and the age of digital disruption. This is affecting all industries around the globe and prompts some serious questions for project management. 6

(Source: Canva)

1. Do we as a profession understand what is happening? 2. Are we organised enough to manage the influences on our businesses and industries? 3. Are we positioning ourselves as leaders to help maximise value? And not just to meet our own needs, but also to support the clients and organisations with whom we work. In this age of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity, it is the project managers that lead the way. Considering construction

industry perspectives, we ask... why the inertia?

BARRIERS TO DIGITISATION We see a number of barriers to the construction industry embracing digitisation. The first key barrier to digitisation is fad fatigue in the industry. In the past, the project management and construction industries have been subjected to a series of short-lived, over-hyped management fads that promise to be the silver bullet to successful project delivery.

The trail of unfulfilled promise takes its toll on the enthusiasm for our industry to embrace the full potential of digital innovation – there is evidence that the industry will embrace some low-level tools, but holistic change is challenging. The second barrier is the specific characteristics of construction projects that make embracing digital technologies difficult: 1. Short-lived project lifecycles 2. Tight, defined budgets 3. High industry fragmentation 7

4. Low profit margins and overpreference for lowest price bid 5. Highly cyclical and volatile business cycles 6. Unstable workforce 7. Conservative clients The collective impact of these characteristics means that it is so easy for clients to say ‘not this time’.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PROJECT MANAGERS? We need to consider that implementing projects successfully in the digital age requires new skills and different areas of focus for project managers. For example, there is an

(Source: GHD)

increasing demand for skills in digital literacy, critical thinking and creativity; overtaking the demand for traditional key skills like teamwork, communication skills and the ability to build effective relationships. Failing to respond to the new data driven ‘requirement’ could have serious impacts in the project management profession and quickly turn us into dinosaurs.

CHANGING THE WAY WE WORK So knowing that digital is important, how do we as PMs decide on what digital innovation to adopt for our project delivery, and how do we avoid the initiatives that sound exciting

but don’t actually move our project forward? Focus on purposeful data We focus on three areas outlined as follows. The more a digital initiative responds to these areas, the more likely it will be that the investment is worthwhile for the project. Focus on integration The job for project managers is different now. It has gone past time, cost and quality and it has gone past baselines and command and control. These things are still important, but managing projects is more nuanced now, and it’s the integration that’s creating the nuance.

Infrastructure development projects all behave the same way – there is a sense of divergence of outcomes (think optioneering) to a point – usually a formal approval gate. That is followed by a period of convergence when all the project parts come together for an integrated outcome. On large projects there are many interfaces that need to be managed through the divergent and convergent stages – interfaces across time, different disciplines, and different delivery packages. And when you have many interfaces, you have a lot of complexity. From a digital innovation perspective, this integration complexity highlights the importance of deciding and implementing digital innovation early. It is easy to miss the need to integrate your digital (and non-digital) outcomes, and consequently find yourself too far down the path to bring it all back together for your convergent phases. The important thing here is to make decisions that consider the full project lifecycle and all the integrations: • Focus on the project outcome, not the specific outputs • Champion for aligned objectives, not fleeting fads • Help and lead the adaptation of innovation within the project delivery 9

Have a strategy One of the key project artefacts on major projects will now be the digital strategy. Having a focussed digital strategy will help navigate the tensions created by all that we have discussed in this article. And just like any other technical on your project, you need to make time to plan and implement the digital strategy – don’t let it emerge accidentally. As a project manager, you won’t know the answers, but there are some key aspects to developing this strategy:

Components of a digital strategy. (Source: GHD)

• Start at the beginning • Think end-to-end • Get the right people doing the right thing – people who know digital By embracing the digital age, showing leadership, and taking on the role as integrator, you as a Project Manager will be taking responsibility for the advancement of the industry and successfully delivering your projects to a happy client.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN CONSIDERING DIGITAL INNOVATION IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Does it help with better decision making? Good project management involves the robust facilitation of project decisions. Decisions need information and information needs data and data is now digital. Look for initiatives that help with the following: 1. More effective governance 2. Risk assessment and management 3. Managing complexity and integration 4. Compliance, auditability, and transparency 5. Ongoing operations, maintenance, and management Does it help with better communication? The better information you can relay to stakeholders, the more support you can garner for your project, and the more aligned everyone is. Digital innovation should therefore help with:

6. Visualisation 7. Increased breadth and depth of information 8. Controlling the message 9. Real time information 10. Clearer picture of the solution 11. Prefabrication 12. Assembly/shutdown rehearsal Does it help with better understanding of performance? There have been many performance metrics tools available for years, however, for the most part these have been disparate, narrow focused and difficult to integrate. Now we have the opportunity to integrate a number of existing elements (e.g. via BIM / digital engineering). So focus on the tools or systems that improve: 13. Data accuracy 14. Data integrity 15. Data consistency

Authors: This article was written by Michael West and Terence Blythman from GHD. Michael is currently the Business Group Leader for GHD’s South Queensland’s Project Management group, and an AIPM Queensland Chapter Councillor. Terence is GHD’s national Service Line Leader for Project and Construction Management and currently Chair of the AIPM Professional Advancement Committee. 11

INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS

NURTURING A CONTEMPORARY PROJECT TEAM

PROJECT MANAGEMENT HAS BEEN GOING THROUGH A STEP-CHANGE WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF AGILE PRACTICES, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, AND A FOCUS ON PEOPLE SKILLS.

(Source: Canva)

The practice of project management is not new with large projects such as the pyramids, the Pantheon or the Great Wall of China being major constructions that were coordinated and built thousands of years ago. The history of project management reveals that the workforces for these large projects were well organised and comprised of soldiers, common people, and criminals. Not much has changed until recently. It was not until the early 20th century that managing projects became recognised as a separate field of management. Following an evolution of practice in the late 1950s, we have been going through a step change since 2002. The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated that change, driving more project teams to operate virtually. We now rely even more on technology to support how projects operate, but this creates a far more complex environment in which people in our project teams need to work together. As we emerge from the wilds of COVID-19, what can we learn from project teams operating in distributed circumstances?

Research on project teams at the University of Canberra during the COVID-19 pandemic identified significant differences between traditional and contemporary project management teams and flagged opportunities to further mature the way in which project teams operate. The result of the study found that contemporary project teams: 1. Are more likely to have a positive impact on the business. 2. Value being innovative and collaborative (even though they may not be). 3. Are more flexible in their culture, organisational form, and geographical location. 4. Consider they are more resilient and risk tolerant (although experience from the researcher questions this). 5. Have a balance of internal and external networks that are used to fill gaps in knowledge and to better understand, innovate and transform. 6. Use internal communication that is regular and multi-modal, particularly for remote teams. 7. See the role of the customer as collaborative (but not embedded). 8. Prefer a coaching style to managing the work with value placed on the ability to resolve conflicts in the team. 9. Value leadership rather than direction from project governance. 13

10. Prefer a team of people who are cross-functional rather than specialists. 11. Align more often with flexible and agile project management methods with the flexibility to select tools that are integrated and support collaboration. The preference for greater flexibility is common amongst organisational groups. However, this may not be appropriate for some projects that need to be tightly focused on the objectives. Therefore, project objective, uncertainty and an appropriate culture need to be aligned to achieve success. A comparison of current practice with contemporary hypotheses on high-performing teams emerging in the literature suggest that there is still room to improve the way we manage project teams. Aspects for improvement are that project teams could: • Focus more on impact and outcomes rather than time/ cost/scope. • Align team culture with project objective. • Undertake resilience building to better deal with uncertainty. • Develop discrete and diverse networks to span structural holes, influence industry or practice, and contribute to the broader community. 14

• Influence the customer to own and manage benefits and be more embedded in the project. • Allow the project team room to be more self-organising. • Seek opportunities to tailor systems/technology to the project and use data to assist in managing the project. • Adapt the project methodology to the features of the project. • Build trust and collaboration through occasional face-to-face contact and establish small clusters in larger projects. • Value team stability above everything else. In considering an appropriate team culture, a model is emerging from the current research that is informed by Quinn & Rohrbaugh’s Competing Values Framework, which was published in 1981. ‘Friendly Villagers’: Teams delivering complex projects with high uncertainty and a focus on business impact should build a ‘Clan’ culture and direct their networking effort internally by building diverse and strong connections within the organisation. ‘Patriotic Gangs’: This indicates that project teams that have clear objectives and moderatelow complexity should focus on achieving project efﬁciency (time, cost, quality). They can minimise their external networking to maximise their efforts on delivering outputs.

High number of strong ties

Strong Ties (Bonding) Internally focused Communal driven

Low number of strong ties

The organisation

Preparing for future opportunities

Friendly Villagers Patriotic Gangs

Networked Tribes Digital Migrants The customer

Project efficiency

Low number of weak ties

Weak Ties (Bridging) Externally Focused Market driven

High number of weak ties

Team culture model. (Source: David Williams)

‘Networked Tribes’: Project teams delivering complex projects with high uncertainty and a focus on preparing for future opportunities should create an ‘adhocracy’ culture. They need to develop a balance of internal networks with strong connections and a broad external network with diverse and weak connections. ‘Digital Migrants’: Project teams with clear objectives that are focused on providing value to an external customer should adopt a ‘market’ culture. They should direct their networking effort externally with a diverse set of bridging connections. The contention from the research is that teams that have a culture that is aligned with the objective of the project and a suitable engagement strategy are more likely to experience better team

performance. You should consider what the uncertainty and complexity of your project is and how you might develop a project team culture that aligns with the success criteria you are measured against. The best indicator that your team culture and objective are aligned is team stability. So if you are experiencing churn in your project, ask yourself if you have the right culture to start with. Author: David Williams leads the Business Systems Delivery branch for an Australian Government agency. He is the senior supplier on numerous project boards for the development of complex ICT systems within the government sector. He has over 35 years’ experience in projects ranging from the construction of Parliament House, Collins Class submarines, business transformation and ICT projects. He is a Certified Practicing Project Director (CPPD) and a Chartered Project Professional (ChPP). 15

INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS

GAMIFICATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRAINING GAMIFICATION IS A SERIOUS BUSINESS. GAMIFIED SIMULATIONS ARE UPLIFTING PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY AND MATURITY BY ENABLING PARTICIPANTS TO EXPERIENCE A PROJECT IN A CONTROLLED MICROCOSM.

Right now, across industry, app-based games are dripfeeding new concepts to workers in the nooks and crannies of their busy day jobs. Events like ‘failfest’ are de-fanging failure and encouraging growth mindsets by enabling lessons learned to be shared in a format more akin to an open-mic-night. And gamified simulations are revolutionising the way we teach project management. 16

A 4-hour gamified simulation aligned to industry standard project managemen

We all know what bad training looks like: endless PowerPoint slides filled with walls of tiny text, process diagrams, documentation lists, and enough input-output charts to put anyone to sleep. For years, research has told us that this type of training leads to 5-10% knowledge retention by learners. Pointless. Training isn’t just about content curation, it’s as much about finding a delivery mechanism that makes that content memorable and useable. The 70-20-10 learning framework reflects this. This well-established learning framework suggests that: 1. 10% of competence comes from formal training (presentations, readings, workshops);

nt. (Source: Elemental Projects)

2. 20% comes from social learning; and 3. 70% comes from on-the-job application. But too often organisations offer project personnel the 10% formal training (if that), then jump straight to the 70% on-the-job application, and wonder why project managers struggle and fail. Then they punish the project teams for poor performance, inadvertently driving a culture of risk-avoidance as a means of failure-avoidance. Gamified simulations are a way of bridging the gap between theorybased training and work-based application – in other words, providing that missing 20%. Gamified simulations enable a layered learning process where

new skills can be first understood theoretically, then applied in a safe yet relevant simulation, before being deployed in the workplace. They allow team members to get a real sense of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and develop the trust needed to turn a group of professionals into a cohesive, high-performing team. They’re also about accessing deeper levels of understanding and self-reflection, because, according to Karl Kapp in the Gamification of Learning and Construction, “underneath the surface is the idea of engagement, story, autonomy, and meaning.” When set against absurd backdrops, these gamified simulations become a shared metaphor for work-based projects 17

– psychologically distancing the learner from the hubbub and technical detail of their projects and enabling critical interpersonal and leadership skills to develop in an engaging and psychologicallysafe space. Indeed, we are evolved to learn like this, through play and experimentation.

A CASE STUDY: THE BATTLE Imagine a room full of 180 engineers organised into three armies. Each army is led by a General (project sponsor) and consists of 12 teams led by Captains (project managers). Each team is responsible for the construction of a war machine – a catapult, hydrapault, or trebuchet – to be built on-time, on-budget, and on-specification. Set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic future, teams compete for resources and information as they progress through the phases of the project lifecycle, developing key project management documentation,

signed-off by their General, to unlock funds, engage contractors, and secure components (some of which are hanging from the ceiling and require a drone to retrieve). As pressure mounts, and teams pull together and/or fall into storming, they’re hit with unexpected issues, deploying contingency budgets to overcome challenges and solve problems. Finally, triumphantly, successful teams complete their war machine in time to follow their General into a final, epic battle. The process has taken four hours, but participants are energised, sweaty, and high on teamwork and success. In the Post Implementation Review, team members, Captains, and Generals reflect on the simulation – what it feels like to balance competing constraints of time, cost and quality; the experience of a diverse team forming-stormingnorming- and performing; and their own emotional responses as they interacted with others to haggle over parts or collaborate for the greater good.

The Battle – a 4-hour gamified project management simulation for 180 staff from Sydney Water and delivery partners. (Source: Elemental Projects)

WHAT’S HAPPENING UNDER THE SURFACE The amazing thing is how genuine and authentic people’s behaviours are, the moment things get competitive. Gamifying a learning experience like this is about creating a psychologically safe environment in which people can be themselves, but also step out of their comfort zone and try something new, be someone new. They’re able to experiment with new ways of working, thinking and leading, without the sting of workplace failure or the realworld consequences of getting things wrong. In fact, when the learning environment is gamified and participants feel psychologically safe, failure is fun and funny. And failure is important. It’s where insights and wisdom lie. It’s how we learn and develop a growth mindset. If people are afraid to experiment because they’re afraid to fail, then they can’t innovate or continually improve – which is what leaders should really be afraid of. Neurologically, when learning is fun, our brains are flooded with rewarding chemicals. As dopamine and serotonin surge through the brains of joyful learners, new neural pathways are laid down, and redundant ones are examined and discarded. Learners gain the competence and confidence to think and behave differently. This is supported by research from

Games, Motivation and Learning: a Research and Practice Model in Simulation & Gaming, which shows that when learning is fun, learners retain new knowledge for longer and are more likely to apply new skills in the workplace.

GAMIFICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF INDUSTRY 4.0 Gamified learning is already here, with demonstrable, measurable results in terms of developing Gen Xs, Gen Ys, and Millennials. But who and what comes next? As we lean into Industry 4.0, how will Gen Zs learn? What skills and mindsets will project leaders need to succeed in a data-enabled, AI-supported, machine-dependent world? And how do we foster their development? Let’s assume the bulk of project management will be automated (scheduling, estimating, forecasting). And let’s assume the bulk of project leadership can’t be. People will need to collaborate, innovate, and negotiate in an increasingly diverse, distributed, specialised, and fluid workforce. Systems thinking, communication, and emotional intelligence will (and arguably already have) become core capabilities to succeed in this emerging landscape. It may not be post-apocalyptic, but future project leaders are definitely going to need more than PowerPoint. Author: Kestrel Stone, CEO of Elemental Projects, specialises in developing project management and leadership capability. 19

INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS

HOW TO DEVELOP THE SKILLS NEEDED FOR NEW AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

ACCORDING TO THE 2020 FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BENCHMARK BY KPMG, LESS THAN 40% OF AUSTRALIAN LEADERS FEEL THEY HAVE THE STAFF WITH THE NECESSARY SKILLS TO IMPLEMENT NEW TECHNOLOGIES.

(Source: KPMG)

Here the AIPM speaks to Piers Hogarth-Scott and Shane O’Sullivan, Partners at KPMG, to discuss the opportunities that Industry 4.0 provides to organisations and how project managers can ensure they have the capabilities needed for successful delivery using disruptive technologies. 20

THE NEXT TRANSFORMATIONAL ERA As part of KPMG’s Digital Delta Leadership Team you both have a large amount of experience working with contemporary technologies. How would you describe Industry 4.0 and what opportunities does it offer to organisations? Piers: When we talk about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the sort of technologies we are referring to are Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, robotics, quantum computing, augmented/

virtual reality, nanotechnology, robotic process automation, digital twins and even potentially things like the cloud, 5G and autonomous vehicles. It really is a fundamental change to the way that we live, work, and ultimately relate to each other and in many ways is a new chapter in human development enabled by technology advancements. When you have the merging of the physical and digital worlds it presents great opportunity to automate processes and drive operational efficiency.

Shane: What we are entering is another transformational era in terms of how mankind uses technology. It is transforming the way we leverage, interpret and act on data. We are producing far more data than we did in the past and we now have technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning that can make sense of all that data and act on it through intelligent automation. What these technologies do is massively improve an organisation’s ability to manage 21

and make good decisions around data. This can mean very different things depending on what sort of an organisation you’re dealing with. In a hospital it might improve the flow of patients or help provide a judgement to address a particular condition or illness. In a lot of retail organisations it’s about being able to quickly and at scale, learn about customers and clients and be more proactive in offering them services and relevant products.

SUPPORTING CLIENTS AND BUILDING TRUST What projects has KPMG worked on that tie into Industry 4.0 and what challenges did your clients face? Piers: Our work ranges from helping clients implement their networks for predictive maintenance, developing Artificial Intelligence algorithms and strategies to harness AI and robotics process automation, through to our work in digital twins to help create a digital version of a physical environment. In terms of challenges, it often starts with several questions: – What is the business case to invest in these technologies? – What is the likely return on investment? – What are the risks that should be considered? – What is the impact on the operating model? 22

Other challenges could be the skills might not exist within the client organisation. One of the things we try to do when we work with the client is transfer the knowledge we have to the client to enable them to participate in evolving that particular solution. Shane: We are working with one of the state-based ambulance operators and are using Industry 4.0 technologies, including vehicle IoT, and some of the more sophisticated Cloud analytics capabilities, machine learning and AI to help bring down response times for ambulances in that state. In the Telco sector we have done something that is much more customer oriented, building them a cloud analytics platform which monitors the national networks and proactively sends messages to customers in affected areas to notify them of coverage outages. I think for some organisations it’s gaining trust in these technologies, and that these capabilities are real. This can take time for someone who hasn’t kept pace with some of the technology advancements that have been coming down the line. It’s about getting used to new and different ways of work and understanding how transformational these technologies can be and thinking of the outcome rather than just a tool to be deployed.

GETTING USED TO NEW WAYS OF WORKING How can project managers prepare themselves for advancements in technologies and what are the key success factors for a successful Industry 4.0 transformation? Piers: When we surveyed Australian leaders, we found that while the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is known to most, the majority lack a deep understanding of these new technologies and do not feel they have the staff with the necessary skills to implement them. It’s about developing skills in these technologies and understanding what they are, their impact, how to use them and when or when not to use them. Immerse yourself in understanding what these technologies are and what their potential impact is. That is probably the best thing people can do to upskill themselves and take advantage of these opportunities. The key success factor for these types of projects is the outcome. So in other words, in what way has the benefit been embraced by the overall operating model? Also consider the risk appetite, from the point of view of reducing risk through confidence in using the technology as well. And most importantly, coming back to our original points around lack of skills, is the uplift in skills and

capabilities around the Industry 4.0 technologies. Shane: One of the key things I would suggest is making sure you’re comfortable with modern delivery practices, such as Agile and DevOps. With most of the technologies we’ve talked about, you can build Lego blocks of whatever you’re trying to do, show it to people, have them provide feedback and then you’ll plan the next sprint, which will run over 3 to 4 weeks. This is very different to following a Waterfall style approach, where you do a big design phase, write down functional requirements and hand it over to the Build team for nine months to a year. A lot of people think Agile means it’s unstructured but it’s definitely not the case, it’s just a different style of governance. Project managers need to get really comfortable with these new ways of working. From a technical perspective you need people who understand how these technologies stitch together for the solution you require. Make sure you’re investing in the right skills for the solutions you’re going after. So have a willingness to learn and explore, as well as a disciplined delivery.

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PROJECT IN THE SPOTLIGHT

JOINT HEALTH COMMAND GARRISON FACILITIES UPGRADE

VIRTUAL REALITY STIMULATES A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE NATIONAL HEALTHCARE DELIVERY MODEL FOR AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE PERSONNEL.

Aurecon’s innovative approach to stakeholder engagement included a glimpse into the future using virtual reality modeling. (Source: Department of Defence, Australia)

The Joint Health Command (JHC), led by the dualhatted Commander Joint Health and Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), is responsible for the delivery of healthcare services, including preventative and proactive healthcare, to maintain the operational readiness of Australia’s deployable defence forces.

The JHC Garrison Facilities Upgrade was a significant achievement in response to improving health facilities for personnel across 12 sites nationally. The upgrades support onbase medical services to ensure that personnel are fit and free from illness to be able to perform effectively under operational conditions. Each new or upgraded facility is a combination of an advanced civilian general practice clinic with aspects that reflect a small regional hospital and best-practice pharmacy. To support JHC’s vision, Aurecon delivered project management and 25

contract administration services. Within this role, a virtual reality experience was provided so that informed decisions could be made about the layout and design of each facility.

STEPPING INTO THE VIRTUAL WORLD On average, personnel move sites every two years, so consequently the JHC wanted to build healthcare facilities that felt familiar to personnel at each location. To achieve a common look and feel, the virtual reality design experience combined technical information with human interaction to convey the project’s design and obtain feedback from stakeholders. It transported stakeholders ‘inside’ the designs which engaged and excited them. The overwhelming ‘aha moment’ came when JHC personnel lowered the virtual reality goggles over their eyes. They were able to walk around in the virtual world, moving through their designs like never before. The arrangement of internal spaces

JHC Garrison Facilities Upgrade Project. (Source: Aurecon)

was discussed, the efficiency of wayfinding signage was determined, and the most appropriate layout for clinical equipment was decided. Virtual reality helped the project stakeholders to visualise the internal layouts of the healthcare facilities – and resulted in meaningful and informed stakeholder feedback for inclusion in the design component of the project. For example, while immersed in the virtual reality experience, JHC personnel realised that the original dental clinic layout was not functional. In real-time, they were able to reconfigure the sink and chair, and reorient the rooms, to better suit the clinicians and patients. The experience also led to some changes of furniture types, and fittings and equipment selections, to be more suitable for their function in the building spaces. Engaging with stakeholders through the virtual reality experience provided a unique opportunity to experience the health facilities in a fully immersive virtual environment

3D tools helped project stakeholders visualise the internal layouts of the facilities and resulted in meaningful and informed feedback. (Source: Department of Defence, Australia)

during design development. With 12 sites across the country, there was a large volume of national, regional and local stakeholders to engage with. Stakeholders had disparate degrees of oversight on the JHC’s strategic direction. Aurecon was instrumental in communicating JHC’s vision to the project stakeholders, and actively listened to their needs and worked through their feedback, changes and impacts. Key issues were escalated to the JHC for further consideration and final decision making. Overall, the project was designed to cater for the way health services will be delivered in the future rather than how they are being delivered now.

This new model of care and facilities for the JHC represents a substantial change to the requirements of a health facility. It is the beginning of a paradigm shift that challenges the traditional ways to consider not only healthcare delivery, but also infrastructure management and digital design. This project was an important element of the broader strategic initiative of JHC to increase standardisation of health service delivery across the command. The management, stakeholder engagement and digital approach allowed innovation to flourish that pushed the boundaries of imagination and creativity. Authors: This article was written by Claude Di Rosso and Kristian Wheeler. Claude is a Senior Consultant at Aurecon with a career spanning over 11 years of project management, working on a multitude of construction projects in varying sectors. Kristian is a Principal at Aurecon with 20 years of project and program management experience, specialising in projects within the Defence and other Commonwealth agencies sectors.

RESEARCH

AI, ML AND BOTS: ARE AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES PREPARING PROJECT MANAGERS FOR THE FUTURE? ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI), MACHINE LEARNING (ML) AND ROBOTISATION (BOTS) ARE MAKING THEIR WAY INTO OUR LIVES ON EVERY FRONT. FROM PHONES TO TVS AND EVEN KITCHEN APPLIANCES, EVERYTHING IS GETTING “SMARTER”.

(Source: Canva)

Robotics Engineering student. (Source: Canva)

There can be no doubt that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is coming – a revolution which will see AI, ML and Bots take a central role in global economic and labour markets. Due to the all-pervasive nature of AI, ML and Bots, it stands to reason that the profession of project management will not be left untouched by this new revolution. It is therefore essential to understand how these changes will impact our profession so that we can prepare, not only ourselves, but the generations of project managers that follow us. These changes beg one important question:

Are Australian Universities keeping pace with this revolution to ensure the next generation of project managers are ‘job ready’? In 2020 we conducted research with a group of Australian AI developers, university educators and project management practitioners to answer this question. Each cohort were asked if and/or when AI, ML and Bots would replace core project management skills such as programming, forecasting and financial management. Whilst there were some minor differences in opinion regarding timeframes, the overwhelming consensus was that AI, ML and Bots would have a significant impact on the Australian project management industry in the next 5 years. 29

Based on our research it is evident that AI, ML and Bots will revolutionise the Australian project management Industry within the foreseeable future. The way projects are managed today will be very different to how they will be managed in the coming decade. However, our research also indicates that Australian universities may not be ready to manage the educational demands of this change. So where will project managers go to learn these new skills? We believe this gap will be filled, at least in the short term, through workplace learning and nontertiary education. Within the next two years, we expect to see AI training flowing from proprietors as they attempt to get their products into the PM marketplace. This training will be complemented by on-the-job training from specifically trained users (Super Users) who disseminate their knowledge within specific organisations. In the next phase (three to five years) we anticipate this training will become more formal, with short courses offered through independent training organisations. The final stage in the AI transformation will occur through tertiary education offerings, however we predict this will not commence for at least another 5 years. If tertiary educations 30

do not stay at the forefront of this revolution and review their offerings accordingly, there may be a situation where new graduates do not have the AI knowledge and training required to successfully assimilate into the workforce. If our predictions are correct, the burden to ensure project managers are developing skills to support them in the industry will need to come from us – from within the industry itself. The future is closer than we think. The change is coming – are you ready? Authors: This article was written by Lachlan Nimmo and Dr Greg Usher from RPS. You can find a full copy of their research here. Lachlan is the Brisbane Project Management Practice Lead at RPS, he has over 15 years of project and program management experience across, aviation, healthcare, Defence Government, Retail and sporting facilities sectors. Greg is an Executive General Manager at RPS with a career spanning 20 years in project management, construction, and academia.

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RESEARCH

HOW MATURE ARE YOU IN NAVIGATING CONSTRUCTION 4.0?

THE CONSTRUCTION ECOSYSTEM IS EXPERIENCING A PARADIGM SHIFT IN INDUSTRY 4.0 AND IS DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT FROM ITS SILOED AND PROJECT-BASED STRUCTURE WITH MORE STANDARDISED, CONSOLIDATED, AND INTEGRATED PROCESSES.

(Source: Canva)

Enterprises have already realised the massive impact of Industry 4.0 and its role in profoundly transforming business models and processes, but they are experiencing a capacity deficit in identifying the intermediate steps needed to take full advantage of the opportunities it brings along. Amidst a wave of transformation, the majority of construction enterprises are considering a range of new technologies, including but not limited to: 32

1. Artificial intelligence 2. Big data 3. Internet of Things (IoT) 4. Sensor-based technologies 5. 3D printing/additive manufacturing 6. Robotics 7. Cloud computing 8. Building Information Modeling (BIM) But what they lack is a deeper understanding of the business transformation associated with it. Perhaps the most significant stress factor is the increasing complexity and connectivity of the networked global economy. Enterprises can no longer operate as isolated entities that focus on

internal process improvement; instead, they must account for interdependencies, partnerships, and potential conflicts. Technology-based partnerships supporting strategy and capability building, platforms enabling enterprises to conceive, design, manufacture and assemble buildings and competition with stakeholders having superior capabilities not in building but in other areas of business are fundamental to Industry 4.0 transformation of construction enterprises. A keyword co-occurrence analysis to understand clusters of research related to ‘transformation in the

construction industry revealed ‘project management’ as one of the most significant attributes. These studies also showed a strong link between project management and digital transformation. Terms like industry 4.0, lean construction and production, automation, information management, and innovation appeared in tandem with project management in research studies concerning ‘transformation’ in the construction industry. In Industry 4.0 rebranded as Construction 4.0, as construction enterprises transform, new business models are emerging. The nature of this emergence is dynamic and occurring in a continuum; from a fairly moderate state to a highly evolved state. Since there is no static point in this transformation, mapping it becomes very difficult. There is an urgent need to develop Industry 4.0 assessment frameworks, business models, reference models, and maturity models (MMs) with a focus on technology, people, and processes for construction enterprises to understand how appropriate technologies can be assembled to assist in achieving the goals of construction businesses. Industry 4.0 maturity is bigger than digital maturity. It is the ability to digitally connect design to a global supply chain with automated ordering, manufacturing and payment processes building on to a system that monitors the site 33

The c4SMC’s Five staged maturity model with the critical levers for process improvement. (Source: Western Sydney University)

Keyword co-occurrence map showing clusters of research related to ‘transformation in the construction industry. (Source: Western Sydney University)

assembly and the performance of the asset. Globalisation, digitalisation and industrialisation are adversely impacting all construction businesses as Industry 4.0 invades and organisations will face a daunting challenge of embracing these emerging trends that might lead to vulnerable cracks in their businesses. As these trends externally impact 34

enterprises, there is a need to explore the internal attributes of the business that will aid in its survival and growth. The Centre for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC) envisions construction organisations to transform in Industry 4.0 and become ‘Smart’ and ‘Modern’ by harnessing the full potential of the Industry 4.0 opportunities. Consequently, the c4SMC has developed a five staged maturity model for business scenarios

leading to Industry 4.0 comprising of seven critical levers which when leveraged will enhance a construction organisation’s process maturity. Having reviewed over one hundred Maturity Models (MMs) from literature and interviewing several experts from the Australian construction industry, the critical levers of Industry 4.0 maturity of construction organisations were identified as: •P eople • L eadership •C hange management •C ollaboration •D ata management • I nnovation •A utomation The following characterisations of the five maturity levels highlight the primary process changes made at each level: 1. Initial: The Smart Modern Construction (SMC) attributes are ad hoc, and occasionally even chaotic. Few processes are defined, and success depends on individual effort 2. Repeatable: Management is transitioning to act instead of reacting. The necessary process discipline for SMC attributes is in place to repeat earlier successes on projects with similar applications 3. Defined: The SMC processes are documented, standardised,

and integrated into a standard process for the organisation. All projects use an approved, tailored version of such a process. SMC attributes partially start to be integrated into the business. It normally has parity with other considerations, but at times it is clear that there are higher priorities 4. Managed: SMC attributes and processes are quantitatively understood and controlled. Concern for SMC is a major business driver and source of competitive advantage 5. Optimising: Continuous process improvement is enabled by quantitative feedback from the process and from piloting innovative ideas and technologies. SMC attributes and processes integrated into all aspects of the business and managed through change management and process improvement Authors: This article was written by Professor Srinath Perera and Priyadarshini Das. Srinath is a well-known name in the field of construction management globally and is the Director of the Centre for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC) at Western Sydney University. Priyadarshini is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC) and her research is on developing a maturity model for construction businesses in Industry 4.0.

FELLOWS FORUM

THE TROVE MODERNISATION PROGRAM: REDESIGNING THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA FELLOWS HAVE GIVEN EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSION. HEAR FROM ONE HERE EACH QUARTER.

In June 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the National Library of Australia (NLA) successfully released a redesigned, rebranded, rearchitected, transformed Trove. Trove is a free resource to explore all things Australian. A single digital point of entry to more than 6 billion digital items, Trove 36

connects you to digital collections from hundreds of Trove Partners including Australian libraries, museums, galleries, media, government, community organisations and more.

PROGRAM GOVERNANCE Beginning as a bespoke NLA IT development in 2008 through to 2016, Trove’s infrastructure was funded

Almost 1000

Trove Partners throughout Australia with content from every state and territory, as well as content from 140 other cultural organisations, including galleries, archives, museums and media organisations.

National Library of Australia

State Libraries

Local libraries Australian population spread

trove.nla.gov.au (Source: Trove)

11 million newspaper pages and

1 million

Journal pages funded by Trove Partners.

from within the Library’s existing appropriation, with approximately one-quarter of digitised newspaper content funded by Partners. The 2016-17 Budget provided the NLA with $16.4 million over four years, to digitise historically significant material and upgrade critical infrastructure, including $8 million allocated to modernise Trove. The aims of the Trove Program were to refresh the

brand, improve user experience and enhance IT systems in order to attract a wider audience, and increase user discovery of collections at a lower cost per engagement for the NLA. To deliver this transformational Program, we adopted a Prince2/ Agile approach in concert with the Digital Transformation Agency’s Digital Service Standard. The NLA’s Digital team were experienced

231 million

6.4 Billion records of Australian history, culture and research.

digitised articles or voices capturing the heritage of Australians, including digitised, full-text Australian newspapers, gazettes, magazines, Journals and audio recordings. Over

68,000 users everyday.

1,500+

digitised newspaper titles, including more than 38 migrant community newspaper — approximately

1 million

articles in languages other than English.

90%

Of Trove’s use now involves digitized or born digital content.

Trove is a free online Australian site that connects communities with the stories and voices collected by libraries, universities and other institutions. June 2020

with developing using Agile techniques – the Business areas less so. To bridge this gap, we created non-ongoing Product Owner roles for each of the Program development streams: branding; Trove redesign; and Trove search and backend. Support for staff in new roles included bespoke training, a weekly product owner forum, handson mentoring in Jira, user story development, and involvement in daily cross-functional standups and story points estimation with developers.

USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN It was critical to the Program’s success that the redesigned brand and technology attracted new audiences without alienating Trove’s existing passionate user base and Partners. This included an army of ‘Voluntroves’. These volunteers are a powerhouse supporting the NLA’s digitisation programs and their open research. For example, when old newspapers and gazettes are scanned and made digitally available on Trove the character recognition technology often produces unreadable text. ‘Voluntroves’ can ‘text correct’ the digital copies, basically providing a crowd-sourced 38

transcription service, and making the content searchable and useable. Since 2009 all the available crowdsourced activities equate to 50 years of volunteer’s time! As you can imagine, many of these users had spent years developing their knowledge and expertise in the Trove systems, so were leery of any changes to be made. The UX design and development approach balanced the needs of existing and new users. At Program start-up an ‘atlas’ of the existing Trove site was commissioned to document the complex pathways that had developed over nine years of bespoke development. Audience analysis was undertaken to identify existing personas, and those of desired new users to fully reflect Australia’s diversity. More transparent user journeys were developed based on thousands of user surveys about Trove. Once we understood our audience and journey mapping, we commissioned updated branding. The brand needed to reflect the collaborative nature of Trove as a free resource for all Australians to engage with their heritage. Development of the brand involved extensive user testing of the logo and design both within and without

the NLA, with existing and new users, including culturally and linguistically diverse, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and Partner organisations. We developed a web-based prototype, first static, and then functional, in concert with the branding team. This was tested with 65 focus groups in cities and rural centres across Australia, to provide feedback on useability and the appropriateness of branding. We undertook in-depth useability interviews.

TECHNICAL SOLUTION So how did the technology delivery support the brand and user experience? Trove is now dynamic, designed to rely less on inhouse IT staff and more on business area staff to provide access to Trove’s evolving collection material. This was achieved by introduction of a new Drupal Content Management System (CMS). Drupal gives NLA a great combination of stability and flexibility. It provides flexibility to build, with reduced licensing costs and the ability to host and support in-house. As a result, we were able to customise the CMS to suit Trove’s functional and nonfunctional requirements, allowing tight integration with other Trove systems. The Trove application was

redeveloped using the vue. js open-source front end JavaScript framework to provide a consistent user and brand experience. Trove has also been tweaked to improve search results, and to automate some behind the scenes processes. Upgrades to infrastructure and software have increased the reliability and security of the service. Changes to search results included the addition of significant new web archive content, enriching Australian’s access to the history of the last two decades. Millions of additional pages of Australia’s documentary heritage, including parliamentary papers, early colonial records, maps and materials relevant to Australian Indigenous peoples has been digitised and is freely available going forward. Trove Partners have been delivered a new business intelligence service, which provides them with metrics about their contributions and collections to Trove. The IT solution has also improved information discovery, by refining relevance ranking in search results, optimising on site searching, indexing full-text for born-digital content, and optimisation of external search through improved Google seeding. 39

PANDEMIC In February 2020 as we commenced the public Preview, the team couldn’t have imagined that a month later we would be in lockdown due to a pandemic. In March – three months before the June launch of a 3-year development – the Program had to quickly adjust to this new way of working from home. The planned launch dates remained, with a soft launch on 22 June 2020 where the old and new sites were run in parallel, and a hard launch cutover to the new site on 26 June. However, the Communications and Marketing team had the mammoth challenge of replanning the launch. Originally planned for a face-toface event at Parliament house with the Minister and media on hand, the team redesigned the launch strategy at very short notice, and whilst working from home. The Launch became a digital event hosted by Annabel Crabbe, with the participation of Minister Fletcher the NLA’s Director’s General and key Partners. It was live streamed to Trove VIPs with the broader community accessing the event in their own time via Facebook. Social media was replanned in light of the 40

pandemic and launch strategy. It was one of the more unusual COVID experiences for the team to watch as silent audience members to the streamed launch – well socially distanced of course.

LESSONS Whilst the Program successfully delivered within the funding envelope and exceeded its

7.9 million

92,563

Paradigm Shift | Project Management Magazine Winter 2021

Articles inside

HOW MATURE ARE YOU IN NAVIGATING CONSTRUCTION 4.0?

NURTURING A CONTEMPORARY PROJECT TEAM

AI, ML AND BOTS: ARE AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES PREPARING PROJECT MANAGERS FOR THE FUTURE?

THE DIGITAL AGE IS CHANGING THE WAY WE MANAGE PROJECTS: ARE YOU READY?

GAMIFICATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRAINING

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

HOW TO DEVELOP THE SKILLS NEEDED FOR NEW AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES